The SD card that came with the new sBitx V2 wouldn¡¯t boot. (I¡¯ve tried different Raspberry Pi 4s.)
I¡¯ve tried several times to install fresh images from scratch, downloaded from Ashhar¡¯s site (the v1.0 works with limitations) but if I do a fresh git clone and git pull, and meticulously install by all the steps in install.txt, and the recompile with ¡°./build sBitx¡± I get no audio, no receive signal and no power output. I only get a clean, featureless waterfall. See the photo.
I was trying different SD cards with different images when I got a short. I was not transmitting¡ªit was at idle. It¡¯s probably one on the final MOSFETs because I connected it to an adjustable power supply and at 3 volts something was drawing about 7 amps, and the metal clamp for the finals was getting warm. By the way my regular power supply is a linear unit that can put out 12 amps, with a current limiting protection circuit, and I recently also put a 15v Zener in the supply to protect against higher voltage spikes in the line just in case. The normal output is about 13.7 volts.
One other thing I noticed on the inside, of which everyone should be mindful: there is a misprint on the pcb where the power comes in. The ground pin is printed ¡°+¡± and the real positive trace is inferior. The white printed ¡°+¡± and ¡°-¡° marks on the outside are correct, happily.?
I¡¯m assuming when I put in new finals I¡¯ll be back where I started.?
What I need, and I think I speak for anyone in a similar situation, is access to download a working image for the V2 because there is something that is not working when downloading the currently available software and doing a git pull. I have assumed that I¡¯ve made a mistake but I¡¯ve tried three times and the sound still doesn¡¯t come through the way it does with the old image.
Thanks,
Jack
N6LN
John Terrell, N6LN